Day District 1 Recap

Ironic that district one has it's own day ... Anywho ...

D1 A

Greg House gets the W for his New Hope squad. It wasn't a convincing win and there a few surprises but the big take away from this meet .... My boy Slam Dunkley is going to states! Yes! And his teammate Jamaal Aw-Yoonis is going with him. I didn't predict they would make it but I'm not even mad. House tentatively looks like the only medal guy out of this group, but there is potential for guys like Harvey to prove me wrong.

D1 AA

Pottsgrove made a pretty impressive statement today by dominating two very good teams in HG Prep and Bishop Shanahan. Pottsgrove looked pretty average early in the season after a runner up finish last year and a state title a year ago but they came roaring back to life at leagues and now districts behind a 1-2 finish by Lopez and Wurtz. And guess what, Pottsgrove has the 5th man other squads are lacking (and a strong 6 as well). Don't look now but Pottsgrove is becoming a AA dynasty. 

Individually I'm happy to say HGP and BS will still get some well deserved representation at states. Lennon, McLaughlin and Breslin will all be medal threats in Hershey. The D1 individuals are pretty darn solid, it's a shame these guys only send 1 and 5, I think there is a chance that could change soon. I hope anyway. 

D1 AAA

Well the dust has settled and it was an amazing race! Seems like weather slowed things down a bit at at Lehigh, but that didn't stop things from being super competitive. Where to begin, so many stories!

Well I guess ill start with a shout out to Chris Cummings for calling the CB East performance. They were under appreciated going into this meet and came within a few points of stunning their way into the states field. Fantastic season for them. They are easily this year's "why we need a meet of champs" gold medal winners. They will have representation on the etrain all stars I'm sure (if you're wondering what that means, I'll tell you Sunday).

So now let's take a look at the 5 schools that made it on. I think it's fair to start with the team I underestimated most: CB West. Look I knew this team was crazy deep, but I didn't think their pack was this good, especially those top 4. I was expecting them to run a lot more like DTW did, one front runner in Rock and then a crew in the 40-60 zone. Wrong. Ian Davies has been a phenomenal senior leader for these guys and has had an incredibly clutch last two weeks. Iatorola and McDonald also impressed. But this team is still very young and relatively inexperienced so that wories me a bit going into the dangerous battle ground at Hershey. Thrilled that these guys made it though. Hope they have NXN Regionals in mind, could be valuable experience for a potential national caliber team. 

Next we go to Henderson. I've copied it from someone once and I'll copy it again, the demise of Henderson is greatly overrated. Their top 4 lived up to the hype and then some today. And let's give credit to Beckerman, he ran nearly a 30 second PR and hung tough to give them a solid enough 5th to nearly win the entire meet. I've talked about it before, at states your 5th man is much different than districts. He's not racing 40 teams, a lot of whom have 1 or 2 solid runners: he's racing 20 other teams and needs to be an average to above average 5th guy compared to those 20 teams. It's a front loaded meet so Henderson's front running is crucial. I worry about Smucker because he is still just a frosh (I think I've seen one top 50 frosh since 2006 and it was Jake Brophy) but they are led by 3 seniors, a great coach and they are the defending 2x champs. 

I'm afraid to type this .... Ok I'm doing it ... Could Henderson actually ... Win states again?

At this point I would say No, but maybe it's time we kept it in the back of our minds.

Maybe we should talk about the team that actually won the meet now? Conestoga did something pretty historic today: they won a district title! Have they ever won one? Certainly not in my recent memory. This should be celebration! But naturally they looked vulnerable this weekend so people will have their doubts about their chances at a state title next week (and if they can hold off the charging forces of CRN, WCH and CBW).

Here's the thing, Marston had a really good race today. He ran 15:50 here last year and then killed it at states. This year he runs 15:18 in worse conditions. Kid is in the state title conversation no doubt. There's your low stick. Killian Nelson has been really solid as a #2. He could easily have a Sjoreen type race from last year and finish right around the medals. PJ Murray was right there with the other top #3s in the race. Cruikshank was solid at 4. They had 7 guys under 17 and a bad day from a top 5 guy doesn't ruin them in the same way it does for other teams. Here's the wildcard. Last year at states Jimmy Cooper finished in the top 50 guys. He was outside the top 70 today. If Cooper has a performance like he did last year at states, this team has a really good top 5.

DTW had a close call today with CB East, but what's important is they survived. They exercised the demons of last year and now can focus on states. It was probably natural for them to have a bit of a let down after such an exciting win at Chesmonts. Charlie Barton had maybe his best race of his life at Chesmonts, it was going to be hard to duplicate. 

But keep in mind DTWest had a fantastic pack. The pack was just a little farther back then they needed to be. They ran pretty similar to this at Carlisle, Sappey killed it but the pack behind him was a little too far behind to unseat York Suburban. They are a group of youngsters learning a lot every week. States may be difficult for them because of their youth, but they also come in hungrier than ever for redemption. This is another team that would really benefit from going to NXN Regionals for a little extra experience. 

For the record I hope the DT West guys all give Ben Ryherd a hearty pat on the back today. He had a fantastic run and might have saved their season. 

And lastly CRN! I wasn't expecting these guys to win or do anything crazy today. They are focused on one meet and it wasn't this one. Arita is a medal threat at Hershey. Griswold ran fantastic last year at states and I think that course better suits him. And they still have a great pack at 3-5. They will be in the hunt for their usual top 7 or so spot at states next week. I am a little nervous about their 6-7, which leaves them vulnerable to being jumped on a bad day, but these guys will be ready to roll at states.

Individually this was a really compelling race. 5 of the states best 10 or so guys battled it out. They all did a great job in the conditions and Brophy pulled out another impressive win. States is going to be really interesting, I feel guys like Power and Marston will like the switch to a hillier course but it's not like the others haven't had success there. Webb was 14th as a soph when he was last healthy. Brophy was top 10 last year and Comber was top 15. I expect those 5 to all have a legit shot at top 3 overall.

Behind them were some nice success stories. Eric Chapman had a fantastic run after a disappointing league meet to grab a state spot. Excellent showing by McMenamin as the top soph, breaking 16 minutes. Eddinger ran solid and now heads to states where Boyertown has produced some really impressive performances in the past. Lukas Marcelis crushes any rumors of a Wissahickon curse with his 20th place State qualifying performance.

Josh Smith and Jon Perlman escaped the district meet and go on to states where they will look to improve on top 50 finishes a year ago. 

An interesting story for states: the top sophomore finisher from d1 at states has been in the top 30 every year since 2008 and often times grabs some medal hardware. But who will be the top soph? McMenamin has had a great season and led the way at districts with a sub 16. But there are also guys like McDonald, Barton, Heinz and Iatarola who have team goals they want to achieve. That could bring out some impress performances. Also Andrew Maxwell and Liam Galligan will compete for that title.

Interesting side note, my phone now autocorrects for Iatarola. That's kinda cool.

Ultimately I'll end this D1 rambling with my D1 Butter Team. Why do I call it the butter team? Because right now these guys are on a roll. 

Ian Davies, CB West

Jack Carmody, West Chester Rustin

Andrew Hanna and Joe MaGuire, CR South

Austin Maxwell, Kennent

Keelan O'Reilly, DT East

Jonah Gillespie-Sickman, Harriton

Small shout out to Haverford Township who I will narcissistically call this year's Cardinal Train Squad (i.e. The top team at districts without any individual state qualifiers, in honor of my 2009 time that got that title).

Happy district week.